Inkscape is a professional quality vector graphics editor. Graphics files can be encoded in two main ways. Most common formats are raster formats (e.g., jpg, gif, tiff, png), which encode images as a grid of colored pixels. These are the kinds of images produced by scanners and digital cameras. Images in these formats can become distorted when resized and will become blocky when zoomed. In a...

With an icon that resembles a red dog decked out with a bandit's mask, IrfanView is a graphic viewer with considerable staying power. This latest version allows users the opportunity to use a basic drawing palette, which contains several nice commands and customizable features. This version is compatible with computers running Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, and Vista.

If you have left over holiday photos that need editing and a bit of retouching, you may want to consider looking over the latest version of Paint.NET. This open source photo editing program comes with support for layers, special effects and essential tools that include a cropping feature and a resizing option. This version is compatible with computers running Windows XP and newer.

PhotoFlare is a cross-platform graphics editor that seeks to provide powerful image editing features behind a simple graphical user interface. Its documentation states that it is suitable for "a wide variety of different tasks and users who value a more nimble workflow." The basic tasks that it supports include cropping, flipping/rotating, and resizing of images. In the documentation, users can...

"The Persistence of Vision Raytracer is a high-quality, totally free tool for creating stunning three-dimensional graphics." At this site, users can download the POV-Ray software for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms. Source code is also available. Extensive documentation is provided online, but unfortunately there is not yet a downloadable version for offline viewing. Even people who are...

Quick Screen Capture is a utility that allows users to capture full screenshots in a variety of formats, including BMP, JPEG, and GIF. The application is also customizable, as users can define a hotkey for easy use in capturing different shots. The utility also comes with an image editor, providing a host of functions for modifying and resizing images. While this particular edition is only a trial...

Chimera is a multi-faceted, interactive molecular graphics program, which can be downloaded from the Web site of the Computer Graphics Laboratory (CGL) at the University of California--San Francisco. Any interested user is welcome to use this molecular modeling software at no charge for academic, government, non-profit, or personal use. An astonishingly wide array of applications are possible with...

Wings 3D is a tool for creating and editing polygon models of three-dimensional objects that can be used as components in games, computer-generated images and movies, or 3D printing. The Wings user interface favors context-sensitive menus instead of toolboxes packed with every possible tool a user might want. Users right-click on an object and are presented only with the editing operations that...